Hammock heaven

I've always wanted a hammock.  I remember being jealous of our neighbour Ruth's hammock, under the weeping willow as a little girl.  I'm not quite sure why I left it so long either... something to do with lack of hanging spots or maybe sunshine.  Anyway here's our new charcoal one, strung outside the bedroom window.  It's rained since it arrived but I'm looking forward to many hours languishing on it, devouring books.  

BBQ shenanigans

Two weeks ago, we bought a new BBQ. A much considered item for which we spent several hours talking to the lovely man at the BBQ shop, learning the intricacies and specialisms of cooking with gas. We learned that we must have marine grade steel, due to our proximity to the sea. We also learned about flipping bricks and adjusting knobs and cleaning, in some detail. I know pretty much everything there is to know about a BBQ, in fact! Just ask me!

What we didn't learn however, was how to fight off the wildlife for our supper.

We live at the top of a hill overlooking a reserve and over that, the sea. We are woken by cockatoos, entertained daily by rainbow lorikeets and their clown like walks, are blessed with a garden full of shy red parrots and are in the flight path of bats. I love them all, but most of all, the laughing kookaburras who make me take nothing seriously.

Until now.

On the first trial of our shiny new toy, where my beloved nuked the sausages in the name of cooking, our leisurely mock-spring lunch on the deck ended in disaster. From the mouth of babes (well, the boy, who's 9),the kookaburra plucked.

It got even more plucky the next morning with the bacon, wrenching it from the hot grills. And lunch that day with guests (more nuking, a chicken this time) ended with a leg missing.

And yes, for those of you who laugh and scorn the meat, my Quorn sausages were not safe either!!!

So, what to do? I asked Everybody.

(Like the kookaburras, Everybody laughed!)

So, for a sensible answer, I wrote to the zoo. And today, a lady called Vanessa answered.

"You're stuffed", she said, (but in a roundabout way).

And so, it's war, and I'm dusting off my Super soaker 2000!

Home: Garden update

Been a bit slack of late, keeping up my postings. For two reasons really. Firstly, because I'm working on a New and Very Exciting Project, of which, I will tell you more very soon. Secondly, because its still winter but 24 DEGREES today! Who can sit indoors on a day like that?!

Certainly not me anyway. Not when I've got this much of a challenge with our new garden. We had a survey done, whilst I was away, to determine the flatness of the bottom and the possibility of putting a studio on stilts down there. To do this, the vegetation, that had not seen human foot for many years, was slashed and we were left with a big pile of brown. And there its remained for 2 months, along with the debris and plant-age and about 2 foot of soil which has slid down the hill during last week's rain.

So today, aided by the lovely Stuart, gardener-extraordinaire, the garden has been half cleared and some light at the end of the tunnel has been spotted. Its a tiny pin prick of light mind, it's a very, very long way to go!

Greetings from the White House

There are some benefits to endless-Bladerunner-death-scene style rainfall here in Sydney.... The decorator who promised to come in September called to say she was on her way and has spent the week painting and now our 1970's style ski lodge ceiling is no longer. Our brown wooden window frames now match the white clouds amongst which, due to our elevated position, we now sit.

I've also been able to crack open the boxes of books that I haven't seen for 3 years and still smell of Primrose Hill and the Japanese plastic toys, so loved by beloved. And whilst we've still got a very long way to go, its all starting to feel a bit like home.

So here then are some of our corners. Our eating corner with our Gary's table, the Star Wars print we bought in Nelly Duff on Columbia Road and some of M's own paintings. Some of the aforementioned books and the 70's coffee table and white vases I bought once upon a time for the black slate fireplace in Holland Road - filled with pretty white blossom that is another benefit of the winter here.

Dont stop til you get enough!

So, Mark Tuckey has opened a new homewares shop in Avalon. Perfect furniture, perfect goey stuff, perfect bags, etc etc. Yet another reason to not have to leave, ever. I'll take it all, thanks!

Say hello to our new oven!

Well not new so much - in fact far, far from it. St George made it in about 1950 and it came off their production line so soon after they started that its numbered 2342. Its in incredible condition, has two ovens, two warming drawers and even an old fuse box in the bottom. The clock (which is the only thing that doesn't work) looks like the one in my grandad's Morris Minor and is absolutely beautiful.

After my experience with the St George at Whale Beach, I found it on ebay and as it was local, I felt I had to have it. Especially as I found myself thinking about it a few days later. Yesterday afternoon though, as four of us struggled for an hour to get it down the front steps, I wondered whether it was a foolish move, especially as it has nowhere to go yet except sit on a trolley, looking confused in the living room. But it gives me a chance to get it looked at and to find and fit new seals to make it more energy efficient. And when its done, it will fit perfectly... even if we have to have a new kitchen.

One thing's for sure, at over 200kgs its not going anywhere else again!

Next stop - Northern Beaches

Somehow I managed to loose this page so here it is again! The big news... a new house! Can't wait! 7 moves, including 2 countries in 3 years... This time though, the boxes I've so carefully stored each time will be freecycled as this one will be ours!

Its a little cottage on the side of a hill, between the sea and Pittwater. It's currently 2 flats but its got the bare bones of a lovely little house which feels just right and we're going to have fun playing with it and making it ours. It has a whopping garden, which backs onto a reserve. The garden needs to be shown some love and I can't wait - the current owner hasn't ever been to the end! Its also got a chicken coop so I think we're about to turn all Good Life. M has plans of vegetable patches and I think I will be quite happy with the view of a sea of green until it meets the ocean in the distance.

To get there I have some serious moving to do and being the only non-worker, I know that will be on my shoulders. But it will be so worth it in the end and I'm so looking forward to putting down some roots again.

Home... until next Thursday

For the past 4 months we've been staying in a house with this gorgeous view. Sadly, next Thursday, this phase is coming to an end but gladly will be starting our gradual move to our new full time home. After 6 moves in 3 years, I'm looking forward to passing on the boxes I've so diligently saved each time and never seeing them again!

This house has been a treat. The perfect place for Christmas and for a summer that has been rough in places with plenty of rain. Its up on the Northern Beaches, overlooking Dolphin Bay, which is near to Whale Beach. Unlike other houses closeby, its not glass/steel perfection and is pretty close to its original state with 50's bathrooms in swimming pool blue and diving mermaids etched into the glass. The kitchen too still has its original oven. Its these things about it that we love, coupled with the ever changing vista from the front deck and a wall of rock at the back that turns into a waterfall when it rains.

Its been my sanity during these never ending days of waiting for my visa. I've had great walks and swims, along with space to think and plan. Its helped me to fall back in love with Australia again and made me OK about staying.

Rather bizarrely, once upon a time back in London, I tore out a picture from a magazine of a sideboard I liked and have been carrying it round since then. That picture was part of an a photo shoot featuring Mark Tuckey, a furniture designer, taken in the house. I had no idea about the coincidence until I read this post from Table Tonic. How spooky! Here's the article and the chest.

If you want to know details of the house, mail me and I'll happily share. Its surprisingly affordable in comparison to its neighbours too.

An oldie but a goodie

This, rather large, delight is the oven in the holiday house we have been renting on the Northern Beaches. On first glance, it has two distinct downsides; Firstly, it’s electric, not gas, and as every good cook knows, gas is the way forward (except my dad who would disagree til he’s blue in the face). Secondly, it looks like it was first installed in the Arc.

It turns out however, that the electric rings are completely controllable, super efficient at both heating and cooling, as are both of the ovens – the inside temperature gauge mirroring exactly the heating control. It also has two plate warming drawers underneath and a very useful power point on the top right hand corner. In fact it’s probably the best oven I’ve ever used… (take that electric showroom on the Portobello Road, it wipes your Smeg out anyday!)

Rather surprising for an oven that is over fifty years old – turns out St George made it in around 1952, ceasing production in 1957. In fact it’s so old that it’s on display in the Museum of Australia in Canberra.

Unfortunately, it seems that I’m not the only one who has spotted the Supermatic’s superpowers… I’ve been trying to track one down for our new house, so far without success.